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Bruce Lancaster · 07-14-2010, 09:02 AM

Repro '32 parts, even the damn good ones like Brookville bodies, have certainly not slowed down the perpetual rise in '32 parts prices...I think they have simply allowed the construction of more cars, both Ford based and entirely repro ones. Correction...they probably HAVE slowed the upward rush somewhat. Imagine what a roadster body or a frame would cost now if there were no repros! Us lunatics will never be comfortable with repro stuff, but we should be thankful someone is happy with them!
Good '32's were worth more than when they were new by the end of WWII...they moved up to more or less typical new car prices (meaning an ordinary person would have had some trouble paying for both a '32 and his family wagon) and stayed there for a while, now they are in higher territory than say an ordinary new Ford.
Parts have gone up a lot more than car, I think, and there really is a shortage there...most good parts have long since been incorporated into a car, and change hands only when a car is rebuilt from say a resto or hotrod into a streetrod.
When I was a kid in the '60's, '32 parts were like $15-20 per lump like a fender or grill...and that was VERY serious money, usually beyond me. Now any serious chunk of '32 steel is in the thousands...

I posted alloy and heat treat info on Ford EE axles on the HAMB once...they put some serious material in those. The most critical forgings like pitman arms were 100% surface tested. Ductile iron can bend under violence, but I think a lot less than a treated forging...
Chroming is apparently not a big issue on these poarticular sorts of steel, from what I've read, but I suspect dropping is...the heat used is surely beyond the heat treat level.

07-14-2010, 09:02 AM	#16
Bruce Lancaster Member Emeritus Join Date: May 2010 Location: Madison, NJ Posts: 5,230	Re: New "32 Ford" Parts...Where does it end? Repro '32 parts, even the damn good ones like Brookville bodies, have certainly not slowed down the perpetual rise in '32 parts prices...I think they have simply allowed the construction of more cars, both Ford based and entirely repro ones. Correction...they probably HAVE slowed the upward rush somewhat. Imagine what a roadster body or a frame would cost now if there were no repros! Us lunatics will never be comfortable with repro stuff, but we should be thankful someone is happy with them! Good '32's were worth more than when they were new by the end of WWII...they moved up to more or less typical new car prices (meaning an ordinary person would have had some trouble paying for both a '32 and his family wagon) and stayed there for a while, now they are in higher territory than say an ordinary new Ford. Parts have gone up a lot more than car, I think, and there really is a shortage there...most good parts have long since been incorporated into a car, and change hands only when a car is rebuilt from say a resto or hotrod into a streetrod. When I was a kid in the '60's, '32 parts were like $15-20 per lump like a fender or grill...and that was VERY serious money, usually beyond me. Now any serious chunk of '32 steel is in the thousands... I posted alloy and heat treat info on Ford EE axles on the HAMB once...they put some serious material in those. The most critical forgings like pitman arms were 100% surface tested. Ductile iron can bend under violence, but I think a lot less than a treated forging... Chroming is apparently not a big issue on these poarticular sorts of steel, from what I've read, but I suspect dropping is...the heat used is surely beyond the heat treat level.